France has its main ideals expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The French Republic is defined as indivisible, secular, democratic and social by its constitution.[17] France is one of the world's most developed countries[18] and possesses the world's fifth largest and Europe's second largest economy by nominal GDP.[19] France is the wealthiest European (and the world's 4th) nation[20] in aggregate household wealth. France enjoys a high standard of living as well as a high public education level, and has also one of the world's highest life expectancies.[21] France has been listed as the world's "best overall health care" provider by the World Health Organization.[22] It is the most visited country in the world, receiving 82 million foreign tourists annually.[23] 

France has the world's third largest nominal military budget,[24] the third largest military in NATO and EU's largest army. France also possesses the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world[25] – with ~300 active warheads as of 25 May 2010 – and the world's second largest diplomatic corps (second only to that of the United States).[26] 

As of 2008, the French national institute of statistics INSEE estimated that 11.8 million foreign-born immigrants and their direct descendants (born in France) lived in France representing 19% of the country's population. More than 5 million are of European origin and about 4 million of Maghrebi origin. Immigrants aged 18–50 count for 2.7 millions (10% of population aged 18–50) and 5 millions for all ages (8% of population). 2nd Generation aged 18–50 make up 3.1 millions (12% of 18-50) and 6.5 millions for all ages (11% of population)[209][210][211] 

In 2004, a total of 140,033 people immigrated to France. Of them, 90,250 were from Africa and 13,710 from Europe.[212] In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137,000 persons, mostly to people from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey.[213] 

Although it is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and race, a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958, some surveys, like the TeO ("Trajectories and origins") survey conducted jointly by INED and INSEE in 2008, are allowed to do it.[214][215] Before this survey, it was estimated that between three million[216] and six million[217] people are of North African ancestry while an estimated 2.5 million people are of Black African ancestry.[218][219] It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population is descended at least partially from the different waves of immigration the country has received.[220] Between 1921 and 1935 about 1.1 million net immigrants came to France.[221] An estimated 1.6 million European pieds noirs returned to France as the country's North African possessions gained independence.[222][223] 

France is the leading asylum destination in Western Europe with an estimated 50,000 applications in 2005 (a 15% decrease from 2004).[224] The European Union allows free movement between the member states. While UK and Ireland did not impose restrictions, France put in place controls to curb Eastern European migration. 

The largest cities in France, in terms of metropolitan area population, are Paris (11,836,970), Lyon (1,757,180), Marseille (1,618,369), Lille (1,163,934), Toulouse (1,118,472), Bordeaux (1,009,313), Nice (999,678), Nantes (768,305) and Strasbourg (641,853).